


we'll be okay in the morning

by bloodyhalefire



Series: something about the bad boys [5]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Gang Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Injury Recovery, LAST REPOST BEFORE NEW CONTENT, M/M, Morning After, Pet Names, Protective Ian Gallagher, Sharing Clothes, as usual for this series lmao, luke's sisters are awesome ok i love them, the usual two things between these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 12:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15631020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodyhalefire/pseuds/bloodyhalefire
Summary: As for Ian, he looks like he hasn’t slept in years. It makes Carl’s heart hurt.Carl clears his throat quietly in lieu of a greeting, and Ian’s head snaps up. Somehow his expression crumbles even more.“Hey,” he says, and his voice is rough from what Carl can only assume is lack of sleep. It makes Carl feel guilty because of how peacefully he slept last night.





	we'll be okay in the morning

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy!

When Carl wakes up the next morning, his body feels sore in the best possible way. On top of that, he’s wrapped in Luke’s embrace: his favorite way to wake up.

 

But the feeling of contentedness ends abruptly as the events of last night come rushing back to him in waves.

 

Carl shifts as slow and gentle as possible so that he can look at Luke. He looks peaceful, the pain of his wound seemingly forgotten with sleep, and it absolutely  _ kills _ Carl to wake him up. However, he knows that Luke will want to see Mickey as soon as he possibly can. And to be honest, Carl does too.

 

“Luke,” he whispers, jostling Luke’s shoulder a bit. The movement elicits a groan out of Luke.

 

“What do you want?” Luke murmurs, and he’s obviously still half asleep. “It’s too early.”

 

Carl sighs. “Luke, c’mon, it’s Carl. You gotta wake up.”

 

Luke opens his eyes upon hearing Carl’s name and smiles a little when they make eye contact. Carl is helpless to do anything but beam right back at him. “As much as I love seein’ your beautiful face, sweetheart, why am I not asleep.”

 

_ Fuck, _ Carl thinks to himself,  _ I need to stop getting chills every time he calls me that. _

 

“I, uh, thought you might wanna see Mickey,” he responds dumbly.

 

Luke just blinks at him for a second before practically jumping out of the bed, wincing from the pain of a wound he no doubt forgot about, and fumbles around for his clothes. Now it’s Carl’s turn to blink at him.

 

“Let’s get  _ moving, _ Carl,” Luke practically yells. “We gotta go.”

 

Carl stays where he is, still in a daze from the complete 180 Luke has just pulled. When Luke notices this he huffs in frustration and throws clothes at him: Carl’s jeans from last night that had been carelessly tossed onto the floor and one of the sweatshirts Luke must’ve left here from another time. Carl hurries to put them on, and it definitely isn’t partly because he wants Luke’s scent surrounding him. It  _ isn’t. _

 

&&

When they get to the Luke’s house, Luke rushes in and runs downstairs as if he knows that’s where they’ll all be. 

 

He’s right.

 

Debbie and Fiona are both asleep on a couch in the corner of the room, Debbie’s head on Fiona’s shoulder. Fiona’s head is resting on top of Debbie’s.

 

As for Ian, he looks like he hasn’t slept in years. It makes Carl’s heart hurt.

 

Carl clears his throat quietly in lieu of a greeting, and Ian’s head snaps up. Somehow his expression crumbles even more.

 

“Hey,” he says, and his voice is rough from what Carl can only assume is lack of sleep. It makes Carl feel guilty because of how peacefully he slept last night. He takes a seat on the other couch on the other side of where Mickey is laying and smiles comfortingly.

 

“Hey,” Luke responds. He coughs a little. “How is he?”

 

Ian glances back at Mickey and grabs his hand. He slowly runs his thumb across his knuckles. “Lexi says he should be waking up anytime now.”

 

Carl sees Luke practically deflate at the words. Carl sends up a prayer of thanks to a god that he knows Luke doesn’t believe in; one he isn’t totally sure he believes in either. They sit in silence, all staring at Mickey, until Ian speaks up.

 

“I’m sorry Luke,” he says. His voice is quiet but sincere. 

 

Carl looks up at Luke, whose expression screams confusion. “Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you?”

 

Ian sighs. “See, that’s the thing. You shouldn’t.”

 

Carl silently agrees, but decides to keep his mouth shut.

 

“What?” Luke asks, his expression somehow even more confused than before. 

 

“What happened last night,” Ian begins, not taking his eyes off of Mickey nor stopping the caress of his thumb on Mickey’s hand, “it wasn’t your fault. Lexi told me everything that happened.” Carl hears Luke suck in a quick breath of shock. “I know what you did, and I don’t know why you didn’t say anything. But I shouldn’t have blamed you anyway, even if you didn’t do what you did.”

 

Now it’s Carl’s turn to be confused. “What did you do?”

 

Luke sighs, but doesn’t move to answer him.  _ “What did you do?” _ he repeats. Luke stays silent, instead choosing to lean back against the wall he was standing by.

 

“He took a bullet for Mickey,” Ian finally says, “And he would’ve taken a few others if Lexi hadn’t pistol whipped the guy from behind.”

 

Carl’s heart fucking  _ stops. _

 

“What,” he whispers, and his voice cracks at the end but he can’t find it in himself to care. Luke takes pity on him, so he walks over and sits next to Carl on the couch. He wraps his arm around his shoulders and pulls him close, pressing a kiss onto the crown of Carl’s head. He wants to push Luke away and scream at him for being so careless, but he’s helpless to do anything but snuggle closer to him and grasp tightly to Luke’s shirt as if he’ll disappear at any moment. 

 

Because by the sound of it, he just  _ might. _

 

Luke seems to sense Carl’s uneasiness still, despite being wrapped in Luke’s embrace to remind Carl that Luke’s here and  _ alive, _ and whispers, “Baby, if I hadn’t done it, Mickey woulda been gone. He couldn’t take another.”

 

“Which is why I’m so grateful you did,” Ian says. “And why I’m so sorry I yelled at you. You should’ve told me when I was yelling at you.”

 

“Didn’t see a point,” Luke says with a shrug. “It didn’t matter. It was my fault either way. I shoulda been payin’ attention.”

 

“Stop carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, Luke, please,” Carl whispers.  _ “Please.” _

 

“He’s right,” Ian adds, “I used to do that. Mickey used to do that. Fiona used to-”

 

“I know,” Luke cuts him off with a nod. Then he turns to Carl. “You gotta stop worryin’ about me, sweetheart. I’m okay.”

 

Carl just narrows his eyes in response, because how the fuck is he supposed to stop worrying about Luke? Carl  _ loves _ him, and Luke got  _ shot _ yesterday, and-

 

“Lily,” Ian starts, looking at Luke, and Carl absolutely knows that this is him changing the subject, “She’s so strong for someone so young. She helped Lexi last night with Mickey. She knew what to do, and she was so selfless. She didn’t freak out at all. She did what she needed to, she-“

 

“I know,” Luke cuts him off. “She’s seen too much. She’s had to grow up too fast. I’m glad dad’s dead so she wouldn’t have to deal with him, too.”

 

Carl and Ian look at each other. Luke doesn’t talk about his sisters too much, and his dad even less. Even to Carl. “What do you mean?” Carl asks cautiously. 

 

Luke closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He opens his eyes as he exhales and looks straight ahead. “Lily’s twelve,” and  _ shit _ because Carl didn’t know that. He tries to ignore everything Ian said she did last night, he can’t stomach the thought that she’s so young and could do that as if it was second nature; “She’s never been on a run or a deal, thank god. But if dad was still alive, she would’ve been going for years. As soon as Lexi and I turned six, he started taking us on runs. He took us to one on our birthday. So yes, I’m extremely glad he died when she was five. Lexi and I were already worried, especially because Layna didn’t have a good first run when  _ she _ turned six.”

 

_ Six, _ Carl thinks with horror. He didn’t know that either.

 

“I’ve never met Layna,” Ian muses. “How old is she?”

 

“16,” a new voice pipes up. They all whip around to the source and find Mickey, looking up at all of them with a groggy expression. “She 16.”

 

_ “Mickey,” _ Ian whispers with conviction, and he’s blinking rapidly as if to make sure his brain isn’t playing a trick on him.

 

“That’s my name,” Mickey responds. His response is quickly followed by a moan when he attempts to sit up, forgetting about his wound just like Luke did. “What happened?”

 

“You got in a fight with a guy. He almost knocked you out before he shot you on the right side of your chest. You’ve been out for probably 10 hours,” Ian answers quietly, and he has a pained expression on his face. 

 

“Damn,” Mickey says, “I didn’t know the fuckers had it in ‘em.”

 

“None of us did,” Luke replies. 

 

Mickey turns to look at him and chokes on a laugh, before grimacing and coughing a bit at the pain. “Man do you look like  _ shit,” _ he observes upon assessing Luke. “What happened to ya?”

 

“Got shot, too,” Luke responds with a shrug, “Not as bad as you, though. It was just in my side. Lexi dug it outta me on the way back from the deal.”

 

“Damn,” Mickey says again. “She alright?”

 

At the question, Luke smiles. “You know her, always gotta be the hero,” he rolls his eyes and smiles a bit wider. “I think they were too afraid to hurt her. She saved our asses by going out to start the van and had Layna go sneak up behind some of the guys before knockin’ them out with a pistol whip to the head. We carried you back and drove off.”

 

“What’s the damage on Iggy?” Mickey now asks. 

 

“He’s okay,” Luke answers with a sigh. “Got shot in the arm but it was close to the surface, so Lily had no trouble gettin’ it out.”

 

“Lily dug it out? Your sisters are  _ badass, _ man.”

 

Luke laughs at that, but Carl is still standing there in shock. His  _ twelve year-old sister _ dug the bullet out of Iggy’s arm too? 

 

“It’s too late for me and Lexi, and it’s probably too late for Layna. But I hope Lily gets the hell out of here.”

 

Mickey nods. “Me too. She’s a good kid. She’s seen and done a helluva lot, but she’s not too deep. But Layna,” he pauses and grimaces a bit before continuing, “I think it’s too late for her. She looks and acts much older than she is; it’s almost like you, her, and Lexi are triplets. Besides, once ya get shot, you’re in it. And I gotta be honest with ya: you were pretty late on that one man. I’m honestly surprised it took this long.”

 

Carl feels himself tense up because he’s learning so much about Luke and his family right now, and he doesn’t know what he  _ thought _ Luke and his family did, but Carl honestly had no idea it was this dangerous. 

 

It was dangerous enough that not being shot by 18 was considered  _ late. _

 

“Wait,” Carl speaks up, “your 16 year-old sister has been shot? She’s even younger than  _ me.” _

 

Luke and Mickey sigh. “Yeah,” Mickey responds for him, “she got shot two years ago. That run was wild, even more than this one. I got no idea how everyone but her made it out that easy.”

 

Luke nods and looks at Carl. “She was strong, though. Layna was 14 at the time and she  _ still _ helped carry Mickey’s sorry ass to the van with a bullet in her leg.”

 

And Carl is  _ this close _ to having a heart attack right now.

 

“Not to mention she beat Mickey at arm wrestling the other day,” Luke adds, and no matter how stressed Carl is he can’t help but laugh at that. “I even got a picture of it.”

 

Mickey groans. “You  _ didn’t.” _

 

“Hell yeah I did,” says Luke with a wicked grin on his face. 

 

“I want to meet them,” Carl decides, and he’s proud of himself because it doesn’t sound like a question. Luke can always differentiate between Carl’s questions and statements, yet almost every time Carl decides something it sounds like a question. 

 

Luke just stares at him for a minute, his face blank, before smiling so big that Carl practically melts.

 

“Alright, sweetheart. Anything you want.”

 

Carl smiles and scoots closer to Luke. Maybe things will turn out okay.

**Author's Note:**

> last repost before new content (which i'm working on right now)!
> 
> you can find me on tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mysticdevils), feel free to stop by and send requests for stuff bc i'm thinking abt continuing working on this series after i've reposted everything!!
> 
> leave a comment or kudos if u liked it!! it would mean a lot!!
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT: lmao i was reading over this and realized i literally wrote his sister layna as two different ages im an idiot bye


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